Paris
It is amazing how much 3 women can see of Paris in a weekend when they put their minds to it. And somehow we managed it while taking long relaxing meals involving lots of wine. It was my fifth trip to Paris, can you believe it?! We took the train from GK Friday morning and arrived in the Gare du Nord shortly after 2. We decide to lunch in one of the cafes upstairs before heading to our hotel, and the carafe of wine we split went a long way to easing us into our trip!!
We stayed at the Hotel Chomel and had a very large triple room with a nice sized bath (well, large for Paris). The hotel itself was Ok, it was just very noisy on Saturday night, unfortunately.
Not wanting to lose a minute, we went right out – we started by seeing the Eglise de la Medeleine, a church I had never been in. From there we walked to the Place de la Concorde, which looked really lovely as dusk was falling. They had a ferris wheel all lit up right by the obelisk. Next we headed down the Champs Elysees to the see the Arc de Triomphe, but decided against climbing all those stairs to the top of it because we are not crazy.
From the Arc, we hopped the Metro back to the Louvre to enjoy its late hours. (Friday nights, the Louvre is open until 10) We didn’t quite make it that late, but headed back to a restaurant/bar near our hotel for some wine and soup.
Saturday was our only full day in Paris, but somehow we managed not even to get downstairs for breakfast until 9.30ish. We still managed to see Eglise Saint-Etienne du Mont, The Pantheon and Sainte Chapelle before lunch! Lunch was awesome – and we had great views of Notre Dame while we ate. I should add that it was my first time to see Sainte Chapelle and it completely took my breath away.
We toured the Notre Dame after lunch, then headed over to see the Eiffel Tower next. We decided against waiting in line to go up, as it was (a) a long wait and (b) pretty overcast. Stephanie & I had both been up it before, and Gwen figured she’d have to take the kids next time she came anyway…so we skipped it, just walking around the area instead. To fill the rest of the afternoon, we went to the Musee d’Orsay. We were pretty wiped out by then, what with all the walking, so we went and took a bit of a rest at the hotel. We almost didn’t make it back out for dinner, but the hotel recommened a nice Italian place not too far away so we decided to try it. SO glad we did – the food was fantastic!!
Saturday night was a little rough, because the folks next door to our room (in an apartment, not in the hotel) decided to throw a eurotrash party at HIGH VOLUME until around 2am. Which, had I been invited, would totally rock. Alas, I was not. And so its sucked.
Still managed to get up early on Sunday and make it to the Cluny by opening time. We checked out of the hotel next and dropped our bags in a locker at the train station. We had enough time left to go up to Sacre Coeur and wander around Montmarte AND to head down to Tuleries Gardens to the Orangerie.
The Orangerie is really cool – it’s where the giant Monet waterlily paintings (Les Nympheas) are. They are in two oval shaped rooms and surround the viewer. Really soothing in how they swallow you up.
We did ALL that and still managed to make our train on time. Of course, we all three crashed with exhaustion about 5 minutes after the train left the station! All in all, a really wonderful end to my time here in Europe. Gwen & Stephanie are dear friends and I hope someday we are able to travel together again!!